‘Golfer’ Tom Kim turned into a sprinter for a brief moment on the Riviera greens! After Tiger Woods‘s withdrawal from the Invitational due to influenza and Jordan Spieth‘s disqualification for entering wrong scores on his scorecard, Kim was next in line to sit out of the final round of the Genesis Invitational.

Kim was not down with influenza or marked the wrong score. In fact, the three-time PGA Tour pro was very much on the greens. So why was Kim on the verge of getting a two-stroke penalty and had to dash to avoid getting penalized?

Tom Kim’s unusual race to the tee box

Tom Kim was scheduled to start the fourth round by 8 in the morning (PST) alongside the six-time PGA Tour winner alum, Rickie Fowler. Did he doze off or get confused between Eastern and Pacific timing? Not at all! The reason behind his delay was a deep conversation. Kim had been engrossed in discussion with his caddie, causing them to lose track of time.

The golfer was brought back to reality when he was notified about the time. Kim spoke about the timing goof-up and stated, “We had 27 minutes to go when we first got to the putting green.” However, it felt like only 15 minutes had passed but someone told Kim, ” ‘You have one minute before you tee off.’ “

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The consequence of reaching late to the tee box is a two-stroke penalty. To make the situation a bit more difficult, the 21-year-old golfer stated that he was “farthest away” from the tee box. Kim made a run to the tee and, funnily enough, time was by his side as the golfer reached at the nick of time. The three-time PGA Tour pro recalled the incident and said, “I made sure I wasn’t late, and literally 10, 15 seconds later he called the tee. I was fortunate. I’m never late for tee times.”

Usually, punctual, the 21-year-old pro said that he is “always too early.” However, during the Invitational, something occupied him and his caddie, Paul Tesori, to such an extent that they lost track of time on the greens. What was the topic of discussion that made the seconds pass swiftly?

Tom Kim talks about the reason behind his lateness 

In the Saturday round, Tom Kim started his day with a birdie. However, the next hole was a bogey. The front nine scorecard had two birdies on the 5th and 6th holes. However, as he went to the eighth, Kim shot the first double bogey of the round. The back nine was worse than the fronts. After making an eagle on the 10th hole, the 21-year-old made three subsequent bogeys from the 11th to the 13th hole.

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However, after making a birdie on the par-3 16, Kim ended his round with another double bogey, 1 over 72. To not make mistakes in the closing round, Kim was engrossed in taking guidance from his caddie. He said, “We were so engaged in our conversation. I’d had a tough finish yesterday and we were talking about what we could have done better.”

Kim also iterated that his sudden latency sure had Fowler think, “‘Hmm, I wonder why Tom isn’t here?’” Well, he eventually reached a tie and avoided being penalized. If not, Kim wouldn’t have shot the second-best performance of his 2024 season, which is the T24 on Riviera Golf Course.

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